Lassen at first[1] identified the Kumari of the Cape with Parvati; but
afterwards connected the name with a story in the Mahabharata about
certain Apsarases changed into Crocodiles.[2] On the whole there does
not seem sufficient ground to deny that Parvati was the original object
of worship at Kumari, though the name may have lent itself to various
legends.]
[Illustration: Cape Comorin (From a sketch by Mr. Foote, of the Geological
Survey of India)]
NOTE 2. - I have not been able to ascertain with any precision what animal
is meant by Gat-paul. The term occurs again, coupled with monkeys as
here, at p. 240 of the Geog. Text, where, speaking of Abyssinia, it is
said: "Il ont gat paulz et autre gat-maimon si divisez," etc. Gatto
maimone, for an ape of some kind, is common in old Italian, the latter
part of the term, from the Pers. Maimun, being possibly connected with
our Baboon. And that the Gat-paul was also some kind of ape is
confirmed by the Spanish Dictionaries. Cobarrubias gives: "Gato-Paus, a
kind of tailed monkey. Gato-paus, Gato pablo; perhaps as they call a
monkey 'Martha,' they may have called this particular monkey 'Paul,'" etc.
(f. 431 v.). So also the Diccion. de la Lengua Castellana comp. por la
Real Academia (1783) gives: "Gato Paul, a kind of monkey of a grey
colour, black muzzle and very broad tail." In fact, the word is used by
Columbus, who, in his own account of his third voyage, describes a hill on
the coast of Paria as covered with a species of Gatos Paulos. (See
Navarrete, Fr. ed. III. 21, also 147-148.) It also occurs in Marmol,
Desc. General de Affrica, who says that one kind of monkeys has a black
face; "y estas comunemente se llaman en Espana Gatos Paules, las quales
se crian en la tierra de los Negros" (I. f. 27). It is worth noting that
the revisers of the text adopted by Pauthier have not understood the word.
For they substitute for the "Il hi a gat paul si divisez qe ce estoit
mervoille" of the Geog. Text, "et si a moult de granz paluz et moult
grans pantains a merveilles" - wonderful swamps and marshes! The Pipino
Latin has adhered to the correct reading - "Ibi sunt cati qui dicuntur
pauli, valde diversi ab aliis."
[1] Ind. Alt. 1st ed. I. 158.
[2] Id. 564; and 2nd ed. I. 103.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF ELI.
Eli is a kingdom towards the west, about 300 miles from Comari. The people
are Idolaters and have a king, and are tributary to nobody; and have a
peculiar language. We will tell you particulars about their manners and
their products, and you will better understand things now because we are
drawing near to places that are not so outlandish.[NOTE 1]
